5415. Cheltenham 2023 (5)

When I first started to write about graffiti and street art back in 2015, I had my own unconscious biases and preconceptions about the artists, and I must confess that I was a little afraid, believing that the edgy nature of the world I was entering was somehow representative of the people creating the art. How utterly wrong I was, and what a fool I was. I have met many, many artists and I can think of only one or two that were having a ‘bad hair day’, all the rest, without exception, have been wonderful people with interesting stories to tell, generous with their time and conversation.

So, with this backdrop of incredible and talented people in mind, I met one of the very kindest and engaging people to date at the Cheltenham Paint Festival in one of the Honeybourne Line tunnels. I am talking about Codo (@codoartni). I caught up with Codo while he was finishing off his intricate/simple doodle piece, and he stopped, not only to chat with me, but went on to advise me on several aspects of can control, and gifted me some spray cans and a whole ton of banana caps. He made these gestures without any desire for gratitude, but filled with enthusiasm to help a wannabe artist. He made my day.

I have not seen Codo’s work before, so it was great to see him at work on this piece. Originally he had sprayed a pink and blue background with doodles, but decided to overwrite it with black lined doodles and the resulting effect is rather good. In amongst the patterns and faces are shout-outs to other artists he was painting with and other cryptic messages. The central character, dominates the work and is a simple thick-lined version of the smaller doodles all around. This is Codo’s identity, his look and feel that underpins his work. Great stuff. I very much hope to meet him again, perhaps if he could get himself invited over to Upfest next year or something like that, that would be cool.